Education

How to Improve Your Communication Skills: Tips From a Neuroscience Professor of Wharton Business School

Real face-to-face communication is rare in today’s professional world. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re studying or working. In this regard, the likelihood that the recipient will not get the right message, or that you will make the wrong impression on him or her, has increased. Michael Platt, professor of marketing, psychology, and neuroscience at Wharton Business School, shares five simple ways, based on neuroscience research, to better communicate your message in the pages of Wharton Magazine (Spring/Summer 2021).

The two most effective ways to connect with your audience (or anyone), whether a person or a group, are eye contact and mirroring, where you mimic another person’s gestures. Both of these methods result in synchronized waves in areas of the human brain associated with a contact, learning, and good rapport. With both methods, it’s harder when you don’t meet in person, but that doesn’t mean you can’t commiserate.

A business school professor suggests that you try these 5 ways to improve your chances of being heard. Before start, we recommend you not only read it but also practice it. For example, you could use do my homework for me service and save some time for improving your soft skills.

1.Tell the story and what it means to you

Hearing the same story word for word won’t necessarily create a collective commitment or help synchronize brains, because everyone has different experiences, preferences, etc. To synchronize brains, the group needs to understand the meaning of what they are hearing appropriately. How? Before you tell a story, explain what it means or why you are telling it.

2.Change thinking or behavior

Change the mindset or behavior by advising people to focus on something bigger than themselves in the first place. A study co-authored by a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, which includes the Wharton School of Business, shows that difficult messages are met with spontaneous self-defense, which can block understanding of the message. To prevent this from happening, the professor asks people to reflect on what is most important to them in life (e.g., family, friends, spirituality, etc.) or to constantly wish for the well-being of others (both loved ones and strangers).

3.Simplify.

Research on movie trailers has shown that trailers with a minimum of words and faces are most effective. Complex processes interfere with brain synchronicity. The simpler the message, the easier it is to understand and the more likely it is to be remembered. But brevity and euphony alone are not enough. It is necessary to communicate a message that is both simple and profound in meaning.

4.Speak louder.

Research has shown that if you speak a little louder and change the volume level, you will appear more confident and, in turn, more persuasive. This works better when you are physically present at the event. Also, consider that you look more persuasive when you are present in person than when you are emailing back and forth.

5.Give mutual feedback

Research shows that before you give difficult feedback to an employee, you need to set up a meeting and ask that employee to give you feedback and tell you how you support him/her in development, etc. Listen uncritically, take the time to respond, and even use mirroring, repeating the feedback in your own words. Then have a second meeting, in which you revisit what you heard in the first meeting. If a weakness emerges, ask how you can improve. Then give your feedback and ask how you can help the employee grow or change.

Christopher Stern

Christopher Stern is a Washington-based reporter. Chris spent many years covering tech policy as a business reporter for renowned publications. He has extensive experience covering Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commissions. He is a graduate of Middlebury College. Email:[email protected]

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